Hey everyone, first post here. I'm participating in the Grower Feedback Program and will be keeping a journal here and on an off-site blog soon.

So, I thought I would start off by introducing myself and telling you a little about my setup and planned grow.

I'm a 28 year old entrepreneur living in Portland Oregon. I recently moved here from Florida for several reasons, one being the recent legalization of recreational marijuana use and cultivation.

I spent several months reading and researching before buying anything and I'm fairly confident in my level of knowledge going into this. I'm familiar with a great deal of the things to watch out for and also with good practices for growing and maintaining my plants.

Now, about my grow setup. Below is what I've got so far along with a few proposed additions I'll be making soon.

Current Equipment:4x4x7 Gorilla Grow Tent4-inch Active Air Inline Exhaust Fan4 inch Phresh Carbon Filter2 x 6 inch clip on fansFan Speed Controller & Apollo Timer2 x Solar Storm 440 (More on this in a minute - It turns out I have 2 different versions of the 440, one with 3 watt diodes and one with 5 watt. I have a few questions for experienced growers about this)

Additional Equipment To Come:Portland Electric Air Conditioner for circulation outside of grow tent. Unfortunately, my apartment has no central air and the room I've got my grow tent in has very warm stagnant air. The ambient temperature of the room is 78-84 throughout the day with the grow tent reaching up to 90 with the lights on. Because of this, I'll be installing an air conditioner to bring the room temperature (and thus my tent temperature) down to 75ish.

Lastly, I'm currently growing 18 seedlings in 16oz solo cups using a mix of Black Gold seedling soil with 30-50% perlite mixed in. It seems to be a good mix as all of my sprouted seedlings are growing well and there seems to be excellent drainage.

I plan to transplant these seedlings into 2 gallon and then 5 gallon air pots using a mix of FF Ocean Forest, Roots Organic, & Perlite down the line. Ultimately, I'm aiming to grow 4-6 decent size plants in this tent but I'm not sure if I'm being too optimistic with that number. I could use some input from you guys on that. In my space, would 4 or 6 plants be more efficient or does it not make much of a difference?

Now, on to my most important question. The first light I bought was a brand new Solar Storm 440 through California LightWorks grower feedback program. Upon arrival and installation, I realized that I would probably be best off adding an additional 440 to the grow room. Because of this, I ordered a 2nd 440 from Growershouse.com. I bought a "renewed" version thinking it would just be a refurbished unit that was the same as the new one that had just arrived from California Light Works. I was wrong. The "renewed" unit that I received has a completely different LED panel than the brand new one.

Upon doing some research, I found out that the "renewed" 440's come with the old 5 watt diodes while the brand new units come with the new 3 watt diodes. Basically, the brand new 440 has 144 3 watt diode's while the "renewed" 440 has 88 5 watt diodes.

SO to my actual question. Will I see any detrimental impact on my grow by running these two lights side by side? Their technical specifications are very very similar and they appear similar in brightness. That said, I was told by someone at Growershouse.com that the 3 watt version is actually 15% brighter than the 5 watt version, so that is what initially raised my concerns.

What do you guys think? Am I good to go ahead and run these 2 solar storm 440's side by side or should I exchange the "renewed" version for a 3 watt version? If it matters, I'm really trying to avoid the hassle of carefully packaging up a $700 light, sending it off in the mail, waiting for it to arrive at Growershouse, and then waiting for my exchange to process and be sent back when I know the light I've got works fine. I would hate to do all of that only to receive a light with a burned out diode or something worse.

So, please let me know what you guys think. You can see pictures of my setup along with pictures of both LED panels to clarify the differences. Will I notice any affects running the 5 watt and 3 watt 440's side by side over the same group of plants?

Anyhow, please let me know what you guys think and feel free to ask any questions. I'm super excited to be doing this and as long as my experience turns out well, I plan to expand.

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